M-20 bridge coming into Midland to be replaced

Published 5:15 am, Sunday, October 7, 2012

At the age of 57, the Karl B. Robertson Bridge is starting to show its age. As a result, the Michigan Department of Transportation has plans to replace it in 2018.

After Friday’s Wake Up! Midland breakfast, MDOT Director Kirk T. Steudle sat down with the Daily News to share plans for a new bridge over the Tittabawassee River.

“The current M-20 bridge is listed as structurally deficient; it is actually in the critical condition,” said Steudle. “We need some major work on it. At some point you need to recognize there is an end to its useful life. It has to be addressed. It will not stand forever.”

The last major structural repairs were done to the bridge in 2008. To keep the bridge safe during the interim period, another round of repairs will be completed next summer.

“The fact that it is on the critical watch means we’re watching it closer,” said Steudle. “We’re not concerned that there is an imminent safety problem. Yes, we’re fixing it, but not for long. However, if there is a concern with any bridge in the state, we’re going to address it.”

Beginning sometime in 2013, citizens will have the opportunity to provide input for the project.

“At the same time as the repairs go on, we’ll be having these discussions,” said Steudle. “We don’t want to surprise people. This is about doing something up front and asking people what they want.”

Plans will also be in place to create a more pleasing entryway to Midland.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for (MDOT) to work with the community,” said Steudle. “How do we improve this west entrance into Midland? Right now you kind of drive along, there is this hill and you kind of plop into downtown. This is the main entrance and we have to agree this is what we all want it to look like.”

Steudle is well familiar with the M-20 stretch of highway from Midland to Mount Pleasant.

“I was the project engineer when we took M-20 from two lanes to five lanes,” he said. “The entrance looks very industrial with concrete walls. Frankly, I think you can do a lot of things with railings. You can do a bunch of things with landscaping. We’ll bring (to the public meetings) some of the best examples we’ve seen all around the country. We can really make this a showcase piece.”

One thing that will not change along that stretch of highway is keeping the road safe from annual flooding.

“We’re not going to drop it down to the level of the ground,” said Steudle. “You can expect lots of contact sensitive solution meetings where we try to find out, ‘How do we build this?’ We have to work with the community and come up with what are the minimum requirements. What would we like to have? What will the budget allow?”

That budget is estimated at $18 million. When the bridge was completed in 1955, construction costs stood at $1 million.

“The original bridge was built higher to go over a railroad, which is no longer there,” said Steudle.

One concern with funding involves Proposal 5 on the Nov. 6 general election ballot. The constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds vote in the state Legislature, or a majority vote of the people, to raise taxes.

“Basically a two-thirds majority in the Legislature will be a disaster,” said Steudle. “If there is not a solution to funding, all bets are off. We may be doing another short term fix. The next 60 days are going to determine what the state looks like, whether we are able to invest in our infrastructure or whether we simply let it destruct.”

Estimated completion time for the bridge project is the summer of 2018.

“It will be a long summer,” said William Mayhew, MDOT’s Mount Pleasant Transportation Service Center manager. “There are two bridges there. We’ll maintain traffic on one as we’re destroying/taking down the other.”